the gum wrappers (Was: Great Uncle Algie)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 90390

> > Julie -- who really really really wants to know what is up with 
the gum wrappers!
> 

AF: 
>     I just thought JK was making a point of Neville's psyche and how 
> sad his life has been. I don't think there's much to the gum 
> wrappers otherwise, I mean Neville's parents are certifiably 
> insane.  If you've ever been in contact with people who have lost 
> their minds due to alzheimer's, strokes, or other degenerative 
> neurological diseases, that type of act (giving someone something 
> relatively 'useless') is often commonplace. I just thought it had 
> personal meaning to Neville b/c it was likely one of the only things 
> or types of things his parents gave him that is tangible. 
> 

Carol:
Also it suggests that Alice has some dim memory of her son (or her
younger self, who resembled him). She reaches out to Neville in an
infantile way and he's touched by it. So is the reader: I'd have been
very disappointed in Neville if he'd thrown away that gum wrapper.
(Neville's father, Frank, OTOH, doesn't appear in the scene even
though we know he's behind the curtain, perhaps an indication that his
mental condition is even worse than Alice's.) The scene serves
primarily, I think, to introduce Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to the sad
fate of Neville's parents, to give us as readers a glimpse of Gran,
and to enable Harry to feel empathy for Neville. Whatever the case
with the gum wrappers, I'm certain we're going to learn more about the
Longbottoms in the next two books. 

But there *is* something odd about the gum wrappers themselves.
Bubbles from Droobles' Best Blowing Gum are large and blue and take a
long time to pop. There's no sign that anyone in the ward has been
blowing bubbles, no residue on the walls (though of course Alice could
chew it, or even eat it thinking it's candy without blowing bubbles).
Even though I'm not a proponent of the theory that someone is keeping
the Longbottoms insane through a spell on the bubblegum, I do think
there's something more behind the wrappers than Alice's simple gesture
of dim recognition and it's very touching acknowledgement by Neville.
Maybe Harry will see Neville holding a pocketful of gum wrappers and
it will trigger a conversation about Neville's parents. I'm willing to
bet that they'll come back into the story in some way, just as Agnes
the hairy-faced woman will. JKR doesn't drop in details of that sort
for nothing.

Carol